Remember the last time when we discussed toothache, I told you dental health sits pretty low on our list. So once I chipped my tooth and ignored it for more than a year or so (nope no kidding) then one day as I was working in my office, I felt a sharp pain in my tooth, and it started throbbing, my jaw started hurting as well, it felt like my whole mouth was rebelling against me. So naturally, the next course was to visit a dentist the next day after I spent an extremely uncomfortable night. And the next part should not come as a surprise, it was the same chipped tooth that had now gone rotten. They informed me that I would need to get a root canal treatment done, and finally, I did. Since I am positive I am not the only one with this experience there are many of us out there with similar stories and we leave our tooth to ache till the last minute, it’s a good idea to have more knowledge on Root Canal Treatment.
We all have heard these 2 dangerous words, root canal where they drill a hole in your teeth and fill it up and then top it with a crown, all the while drilling a hole in your pocket. Did you know that our solid looking teeth have a root canal in them? Which is basically soft tissue, nerve endings, pulp blood vessels, and when this gets infected, inflamed it is removed and that is root canal therapy. The procedure starts with an X-Ray to assess the extent of the damage. Then comes the painful part, the anesthesia injection. The fun fact -what is widely known as highly painful isn’t painful as the nerve ending providing sensation is already dead/damaged. Then comes the drilling and the infected pulp is removed, and you would be flushing your mouth a few times during this procedure. Depending upon the amount of damage, it can take more than one sitting to get it cleared up. Once the cleaning is completed, then comes filling the tooth again. The standard filling used is known as gutta-percha (kind of felt like plaster of Paris). Then the final stage and to be honest the more expensive stage – the crowning. It’s like putting a lid on a box. After the filling has been done, you don’t want it damaged or overtime an empty tooth as the filling went out, so you get a crown. If you don’t then trust me after a while you will have to undergo root canal again.
When a tooth is affected, the root canal is the only way to save it. The other options like extracting the tooth or replacing it with an implant are definitely heavier on the cost and pain front. Taking care of a root canal-led tooth is easy. It’s like when the canal has been built the flow becomes easy. Just don’t chew from that tooth till the time your crown is set. Once that happens you are good to go, possibly and hopefully for the lifetime.
So, in essence, root canals aren’t painful but just an uncomfortable procedure with a bad rep. Take care of your dental health and do not ignore your tooth and you may escape it altogether.